Frequency: (64218)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. Welsh: from a medieval Latinized form, Griffinus, of the Welsh personal name Gruffudd (see Griffith).
2. English: nickname for a fierce or dangerous person, from Middle English griffin ‘gryphon’ (from Latin gryphus, Greek gryps, of Assyrian origin).
3. Irish: Anglicized (part translated) form of Gaelic Ó Gríobhtha ‘descendant of Gríobhtha’, a personal name from gríobh ‘gryphon’.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
